Rebirth of Billionaire's Wife-Chapter 402: End

"Eveline—no, no, no—stay with me!"

Gabriel's voice cracked as he cradled her in his arms, pressing hard against the gunshot wound. Warm blood pooled beneath his hands, soaking through her shirt and onto the floor. Her breaths were shallow, each one a struggle pulled from the depths of a failing body.

"Don't you dare close your eyes," he growled, voice shaking.

Around them, chaos unfolded in blurs—Kaden cuffing Jedrick, shouting into his comms for emergency extraction, and sirens growing louder as backup closed in. But all Gabriel could see was Eveline. Her face pale, her lips parted, blood-streaked fingers twitching weakly.

"Gabriel," she whispered, barely audible. freeweɓnøvel.com

He leaned closer, his heart splintering at the sound of her voice.

"I'm right here, Eve. You're going to be fine. Just breathe. Just stay awake."

Her eyes fluttered open, glossy and dazed. "You're crying…"

Gabriel let out a strangled laugh that sounded more like a sob. "Of course I'm crying, you stubborn woman. You walked straight into the lion's den and still thought you'd walk out without a scratch."

She smiled faintly, but her breath hitched, and her body went limp for half a second that made him panic.

"No, Eveline!" He gently shook her. "Don't. Don't fade. Help's almost here. You've made it this far—you don't get to give up now!"

But Eveline was slipping. He could feel it. Her pulse beneath his fingers was thready. Fading.

And all at once, the terrifying weight of his fear hit him in full force.

He was going to lose her.

The woman who had defied every enemy, who had outwitted Jedrick himself, who had walked into darkness and pulled them all toward light—she was dying in his arms.

And he couldn't do a damn thing to stop it.

"I should've protected you better," he whispered, his voice raw. "I told myself I could handle you being in danger. That you didn't need saving. But I can't—I can't lose you."

She stirred weakly. "I wasn't… yours to save…"

"You've always been mine to save," he choked out. "Even if you didn't ask me to. Even if you never want me to."

She tried to speak, but her lips only moved soundlessly.

And then her eyes closed.

"No." Gabriel's heart stopped. "No, Eveline, please—"

The medics burst into the room then, breaking through the haze of dread with shouts and orders. They pulled him back, and he fought it, screaming at them not to touch her too roughly, not to let her go under—but Kaden held him, arms wrapped around his shoulders, anchoring him.

"She'll make it," Kaden said firmly, but even he didn't sound sure.

"She has to make it."

As they lifted Eveline onto the stretcher, Gabriel watched helplessly, his hands stained red with her blood, his soul split in half.

He had faced guns, explosions, even death—but none of it had ever scared him like this.

Not like losing her.

***

Outside the emergency ward, Gabriel stood motionless—like a statue carved from grief. His bloodstained hands hung at his sides, trembling slightly, the only sign he was still alive.

His mind replayed the moment her body collapsed in his arms. The weight of her. The warmth of her blood seeping through his fingers. The faint, heartbreaking smile she gave him… just before her eyes shut.

It was too familiar.

The image overlapped with the memories that had haunted him for years—the recurring dreams that left him breathless in the dead of night. Visions that had once felt like nightmares from another life but now… now felt terrifyingly real.

Back then, she had fallen.

Twenty stories. Straight down.

He hadn't reached her in time.

He remembered the scream, not from her lips but from his own, as he watched her slip through his fingers and into the arms of death.

She had died, leaving him alone in the pain that increased unbearably to the point that he followed her to another life.

Now, here he was again—helpless, watching fate try to steal her from him all over again.

What was the point of second chances if the ending never changed?

He tilted his head back, eyes closed, jaw clenched so tight it ached. Was this some kind of punishment from the universe? A cruel circle he was doomed to walk over and over again?

Was this what he deserved—for failing her then… for not saving her now?

The sterile lights above him buzzed faintly. Nurses rushed past, doors swung open and closed, and voices rose and fell. But all of it blurred. Distant. Muffled. The world no longer felt solid beneath his feet. Like it was slipping away, just as she had.

The dread crept in slowly, quietly—like a shadow wrapping around his chest, sinking claws into his heart. It grew with every passing second, coiling tighter, stealing his breath.

He wanted to scream. To tear the doors open. To do something—anything—other than stand here like a ghost outside the one room where the woman he loved might be breathing her last.

His hands curled into fists, knuckles white.

"Please," he whispered to no one. To God. To fate. To whatever force had brought her back to him. "Don't take her again. Not again."

He didn't think he could survive even this time.

Jedrick was finally detained. The mayor—his accomplice—was exposed, and the twisted empire they had built over years of corruption and bloodshed came crashing down. Their illegal operations, their secrets, their carefully guarded power—it was all gone.

And her parents were saved.

But at what cost?

Eveline now lay in a hospital bed, barely clinging to life. The victory felt hollow when the one person who had risked everything was trapped in the fragile space between life and death.

Gabriel sat at her bedside, his fingers wrapped gently around her cold hand. Machines beeped around them, the only sign she was still here.

His voice cracked, barely a whisper as he leaned in close to her.

"If you leave me, Eve… I'll follow you," he said, the pain raw in his throat. "In this life. In the next. I swear it—I'll find you in every lifetime, no matter where you go."

He pressed his forehead to her hand, holding on to her like she was the last thread tethering him to the world.

"I promise."